There's No Time For Insecurities When You're Beautiful
by masruiiiik
Summary: Hijikata wasn't a girl who enjoyed being fretted over, but it would be nice if someone could tell her that "Round is the new stick!" every now and then. In which Hijikata is adamant about being left alone and Gintoki is equally stubborn in wanting a pretty lady to accompany him to a party. Naturally, to his dead fish eyes, no one is prettier than Hijikata. AU. GinHiji. fem!Hijikata


**Written in response, if you will, to some of the comments I've seen regarding fem!Hijikata. Things like: "Eew. Girl Hijikata is so gross. Geh!" which I find disgusting simply by the way these comments have been worded, and also because (surprise, surprise!) these kinds of things have been written by Hijikata fans. Or, rather, male!Hijikata fans who I think are probably very superficial people. They like Hijikata, but not fem!Hijikata even though they have the exact same personality, but hey wait! One of them is skinny and hot while the other is fat and not.**

I love Hijikata, regardless of whatever 'package' he comes in. In the end, it's not his looks that make this Demon Vice-Commander, but his ridiculous, chain-smoking, mayo-loving, brash and violent, "Commit seppuku!" personality.

So without further ado, please enjoy this GinHiji (AU) fic with an adorable and round fem!Hiji.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

-x-

There's No Time For Insecurities When You're Beautiful  
or  
In the End of the Day Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder But as Long as One Person Thinks You're Beautiful, Then You're Probably Gorgeous

"Hijikata-kun? Hey! Where are you?"

Hijikata clicked her tongue in annoyance, and took another drag of her cigarette. Curling up tightly with her legs pressed up against her stomach and chest, she entertained the thought of somehow vanishing should she make herself even tinier, before snorting and snuffing out her cancer-stick in the portable ashtray sat next to her.

"Oi! Hijikata-kun! Seriously…stop making Gin-san trek around in the cold looking for you. I'm very sensitive to cold weather, you know!"

_Then don't look for me, stupid perm-head!_ As the footsteps approached her hiding area, Hijikata took in a deep breath and held it, attempting to be as silent as possible until Gintoki completely passed her. But, much to her despair, the footsteps stopped a mere meter away from her, and a long silence stretched out.

The sudden appearance of a shadow looming over her form caused her breath to hitch, however the soft, warm breath next to her ear petrified her to the bone. "Hijikata-kun," the words were warm and wet, and Hijikata was quite sure her face was either ashen or fire-engine red. "I found you~"

"GAH!" Hijikata allowed her elbow to fly up and smack her classmate right in the face, and she relished in the muffled sounds of agony. "Don't do that, dickhead!" With that finished, she fished around in her purse for another cigarette.

"You should stop smoking. Cigarettes led you to your downfall. I could smell them a mile away." Gintoki stated blandly while propping himself up to sit next to Hijikata rather than lying as an undignified heap of meaty flesh next to the brash girl.

"Shut up." Breathing in the toxic air of the cancerous smoke gave the dark-haired girl a soothing sensation, and she allowed herself to relax just the tiniest bit next to her goofball of a "friend". Closing her eyes, she took in the feeling of cold winter air biting through her clothes and into her flesh, as well as the rough wall scraping uncomfortably against her back, but she supposed outside was much better than the stuffy banquet hall where she was suffering in just mere minutes ago.

"Why did you leave? Everyone's missing you." Hijikata snorted and gave Gintoki a disbelieving look, to which he only smiled cheekily before contending with a "But seriously. Why did you leave?"

Hijikata looked down at the top of her knees, and frowned at the mass amount of sparkly, blue cloth bunched up there, looking ever so out of place. She shrugged and said as noncommittally as possible, "Just felt like getting some fresh air."

She looked back up at the sugar-obsessed freak, and pulled back slightly at the intense look in his usual dead eyes. Noticing her flinch, Gintoki smoothed out his features and allowed his eyes to droop back to their usual lazy and glazed out look. Standing up, he brushed off the imaginary dust off his dress pants, and Hijikata couldn't help but notice the entirely useless details pertaining to her classmate, such as how his tie was already missing and how his cheeks were slightly flushed (either from the cold, or from the eggnog that was being served). It was belatedly that she noticed the hand being offered to her.

Her eyes widened a bit before she resolutely looked away.

Gintoki clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Oi, come on mayora, don't make Gin-san bend down like this for too long. It's bad for his back."

"You go back first," Hijikata said while taking a drag of her cigarette, before deeming it much too overused and snubbing it out. "I'll follow after."

"Huh," Gintoki said slowly before leaning against the wall. "Then I'll just wait for you to finish up whatever it is you're finishing up."

Hijikata looked up and scowled at him, eyes narrowing dangerously. "Just go back already, you bastard."

"Nope!" Was the cheeky response as Gintoki looked down at her with his usual slack face, but his eyes burned seriously and Hijikata pulled on one of her braids nervously. "I'm gonna go back with a pretty lady on my arm."

Hijikata was quite sure that this time her face was burning red, and not from the cold. The head spread like wild fire and she was quite sure it was not only her cheeks stained red anymore, but her ears and collarbone as well. Gintoki's soft smile was rather telling.

"What pretty lady?" Hijikata mumbled, whipping her head away and lowering her eyes to look at the colorless pavement. A slab of concrete was much safer than an intense and cheesy Gintoki.

"Well, I only see one pretty lady around, but of course, 'lady' is stretch." Hijikata scowled at that, and became taut as she felt warmth penetrating through the fabric of her dress and into her left arm. "But she's definitely pretty. A pretty demon maybe?"

Hijikata continued looking almost fervently at the floor, her ears burning with embarrassment and shame at how transparent her worries and insecurities are.

"Oogushi-kun," the words were whispered, carried away and overridden by the wind, but Hijikata grasped frantically at the quickly disappearing message. "I don't know what you think of yourself, but I have a very high opinion of you." At her silence, he continued almost wistfully. "I think you look very pretty tonight, but that's not really surprising, neh?"

She jolted when she felt warm hands grasp her chin and she found herself staring into red orbs that seemed to glow under the moonlight.

"I think Oogushi-kun is very pretty. Very, very pretty. I don't know how she considers herself. Fat, ugly, not skinny enough, whatever! But I think Oogushi-kun is absolutely amazing. And maybe she's not as skinny as some of the other girls, and she'll probably never have the build of Ketsuno Ana, but that doesn't bother Gin-san at all! After all, the bigger Oogushi-kun is, the more there is for Gin-san to love."

Hijikata's face burned, and her eyes prickled threateningly, but she courageously held her tears at bay because _damn it, she is __**not**__ going to cry in front of anyone, much less the cheesy asshole in front of her!_ She glanced at Gintoki from beneath her eyelashes, and his gentle smile blew her away.

Just a tiny bit.

Random words of happiness and gratitude threatened to break out from her lips, but she managed to beat them all down with sheer willpower and instead offered a watery smile and a sarcastic, "Stop speaking in third-person, would you? Creep…"

Gintoki chuckled and stood up once more, offering a hand out to the black-haired girl. "Fine then. Will the pretty lady in front of me please make all my dreams come true and accompany me back to the party?"

At her hesitance, he smiled and said simply, "It would make Gin-san very happy."

Hijikata allowed herself to be pulled up.

And it was with an amused smile at Gintoki's screech of "And the most _gorgeous_ couple of this party has finally returned!" as he slammed the doors open, that Hijikata realized that she didn't actually _mind_ all the eyes staring at her (and at Gintoki).

After all.

She knows she's pretty.

**fin.**

**I hope you enjoyed. Hopefully they weren't too OOC but FIRST TIME WORKING WITH GINTOKI AND HIJIKATA WOO HOO.**

Review?

- masruiiiik

PS. Why a Christmas party? I dunno.


End file.
